1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved synthetic resin fluorescent tube support adapted to be used in the packaging and shipping of elongated fluorescent tubes in order to prevent breakage thereof. More particularly, it is concerned with such a fluorescent tube support which is improved by provision of specific structural features allowing significant reductions in the use of synthetic resin sheet material for the support, while giving equivalent protection against breakage, as compared with synthetic resin supports described in the prior art.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,170 and 4,792,045 describe fluorescent tube dunnage supports formed of integral, synthetic resin sheet material and which are designed to supplant traditional supports manufactured from pulp or the like. A prime advantage of the supports described in the aforementioned patents stems from the fact that they are machine dispensable, i.e., they overcome the problems heretofore associated with attempts at machine dispensing fluorescent tube supports, thereby lowering manufacturing costs.
The tube supports described in these patents represent a substantial breakthrough in the art, and have achieved substantial commercial success. However, recent marked increases in the cost of preferred synthetic resin material (e.g., polyvinylchloride) have led to attempts to fabricate the supports using smaller quantities of synthetic resin. The straightforward approach of simply shortening the fore and aft length thereof have proved unsuccessful though, inasmuch as such modified supports simply do not provide the degree of breakage protection demanded by fluorescent tube manufacturers. Accordingly, the problem of providing a synthetic resin tube support meeting the twin goals of minimal use of starting sheet material while at the same time giving proper tube support, has proved considerably more difficult than originally thought.
It would therefore be a significant improvement to provide a tube support of integral, synthetic resin construction which retains the advantages described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,170 and 4,792,045, while at the same time making use of lesser quantities of synthetic resin starting material.